The legendary former Azzurri star believes Roberto Mancini’s males need to be heading to the 2022 finals in Qatar
Italy legend Roberto Baggio claims it’s “shameful” and “madness” that the Azzurri weren’t assured a spot at the 2022 World Cup on the again of their memorable triumph at Euro 2020.
Roberto Mancini’s facet savoured continental glory in the summertime of 2021, however have been unable to guide themselves a spot at a worldwide gathering in Qatar later this yr.
A shock play-off defeat to North Macedonia ensured that Italy could be missing from a second successive World Cup finals, however Baggio has questioned why they weren’t already assured of qualification.
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Italy struggled for consistency on the again of their Euros victory over England at Wembley Stadium, however Baggio says that should by no means have been a problem.
The former Azzurri playmaker has mentioned at an occasion at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport: “Italy received the European Championship, I believe it’s shameful, it’s insanity that they aren’t given an computerized berth to the World Cup for that.
“Anyone can lose one game against anyone else on a bad day, but these lads deserve some sort of reward for what they achieved, don’t they? If I had been in that squad, I would’ve struggled to accept it.”
Why did Italy miss out on World Cup 2022?
The Azzurri loved a memorable night on the residence of English soccer on July 11, 2021 as they prevailed in a penalty shootout towards the Three Lions.
They have discovered the going powerful since then, choosing up solely three wins from 10 fixtures.
Mancini’s males dominated their play-off conflict with North Macedonia in March, however conceded a 92nd-minute objective to overlook out on tickets to Qatar.
They additionally got here unstuck of their newest outing, a Finalissima meeting with Copa America winners Argentina, however Baggio believes religion must be proven within the present regime.
He added: “I believe Italy suffered psychological after-results from the World Cup elimination. You can see it’s a psychological difficulty.
“We noticed [in a 3-0 defeat to Argentina], you simply can’t examine the calm and confidence of the Argentina gamers to our present mind-set.
“Roberto Mancini did something extraordinary, he must be respected and allowed to continue working the way he has done. We have young talents who are not given room to play in Serie A and that is a well-known problem.”
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